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A lot has been going on lately, both in the real world and in the insular little universe of the NFL, so some things might be easy to miss. The Dallas Cowboys had a couple of players move on from the team on Thursday.
Cowboys released WR Donavon Kemp today and LB Orie Lemon signed with Kansas City in your transactions news.
— Bryan Broaddus (@BryanBroaddus) April 18, 2013
Neither ever played a major role for the team, but we leave no stone unturned to try to dredge up information relating to the Cowboys.
Kemp was signed as a UDFA in 2012 out of UT-El Paso, but never made it on the field for the Cowboys, spending 2012 on IR. For a deeper look at him, you can check out Coty Saxman's look at UDFA signings from last summer. Technically at the time of his release, he was an exclusive rights free agent according to Spotrac.com. One thing to note: He would have counted for $405,000 in cap this year, and cutting him saddles the team with a whopping $1,000.00 in dead money. At this point, I don't have any information as to the reasons for cutting him, although it could be related to his injury. It is possible he is getting some interest from another team and Dallas let him go so he would be able to negotiate freely. It also could mean the team is already trying to clear up the situation at wide receiver. There are still nine wideouts on the roster with Kemp's release. They may want some room for draft or UDFA targets.
Lemon had a much more noticeable presence, making the active roster for five games in 2012 as the Cowboys saw linebackers dropping like teenage girls at a Bieber concert. He had minimal impact, though, only posting five tackles, and was not signed at the end of the year, a pretty clear indication the team did not think they had what they needed in him. At times he was a bit of a pet . . . er, fan favorite for some, but never quite panned out. He was picked up by the Chiefs to compete for an inside linebacker position, but he is not the only player they have signed to try out.